Hmmmm so much to catch up on! We went to Vienna for a couple of days early last week - which is about a 30min train ride and then two trams to get to the friend's house we were staying at. It's a lot different to home...for one it's huge! The buildings are SO old and big, and the other main difference is that they are all built next to each other with no gaps imbetween. The first day we couldn't really do anything cause the weather was yucky, but on the second day we went to the zoo and had a quick wander around the front of Schönbrunn castle. That night we wandered through a shopping strip of Vienna and the lights there are AMAZING, I can't even begin to describe, there are just Christmas lights everywhere. And we dropped briefly into one of the famous churches there which was unreal, it is massive and the ceiling is sooooo high. They had a mass on at the time, further up in the church, but you just hear it still and there were candles everywhere...it was beautiful. After that we got a lift back to Mannersdorf with Josef's parents and then went to a friend's house to watch a soccer game, except the team lost so I told them they would have to start watching AFL instead :)
Saturday night was the Krampus party - Krampus being the 'bad' Christams character. We started off at a friend's place, and I was quite impressed with myself cause Josef was in another room for pretty much all of the time we were there (a few hours) and I was just in the kitchen drinking beer and mold wine with Michael and Gabby, who are Josef's friends that I had alreay met a couple of times - Michael speaks quite good English and Gabby is still learning but we started to get quite tipsy and she had a lot more of a go than she usually would at speaking, so that was nice. We left at about 11:30 and went to the actual party (downstairs at a bar, I think) which was PACKED. But we found a quiet spot with benches next to the dancefloor, and again, I managed on my own to just sit and dance and drink with the friends that were there.....it was a great night, from what I can remember! The end I don't remember much of at all, but it was handy cause the place it was at is pretty much opposite Josef's parents' place, so we didn't have far to stumble! I have no idea what time we got back. I do vaguely remember getting up after a couple of hours and eating a piece of pizza in a drunken haze, thinking it would do me good!
Late on Sunday afternoon we left with Gregor and Christina (Josef's brother and his girlfriend) to go to the BluMau hotel. That was an AWFUL drive, cause I was so hungover and felt sooo sick, and it took about 90 minutes...but we got there eventually! I can't even begin to describe what the hotel looks like, except that it is almost a little town in itself, with interconnecting buildings that are really odd but impressive-looking. The pools were the best thing....which again, is hard to describe...indoor and the easiest way to describe it is more like a river, winding it's way in all different directions, and even to outside - the water temperature was 36 degrees, so really warm.....and outside at night was probably about 2 degrees.....so it was awesome that you could be so warm in the water while your head stuck out and got freezing, and you couldn't see more than a metre or so in front of you because of the steam/mist rising up off the water. It was fantastic and we had a great time. Breakfast and dinner was a buffet, so lots to choose from, and last night I even ordered my own beer in German...twice! Me, Josef, Gregor, Christina and Josef's parents all went to the bar after dinner and had more beers and then played quite a few games of pool....of which Josef and I came out the winners! Yay! Lots of laughs.
So all in all it's been great so far - the language barrier is still an issue for me because EVERYONE speaks in German. And even if we are with people who do speak English, the conversation always swings quickly back into German...out of habit more than anything I guess. On and off I get frustrated because I rely on Josef so much, but everything always works out alright and then it's not so bad. And I have gotten quite used to sitting around a table just listening to everyone else speak....even though I only understand a little here and there!
So that's it for now, have finally caught up and will try not to leave it so long before the next one! xxxx
